This invention relates to improvements in microwave ovens for cooking purposes.
The use of microwave energy to accomplish cooking in domestic and commercial appliances is well-known. Such appliances typically include a generally box-like metal oven cavity including a platform or shelf in the bottom portion upon which food to be cooked is placed. The shelf is normally made of glass, ceramic or other similar microwave transparent material. Microwave energy is generally fed into the cavity by means of an antenna, waveguide or feed box located in the top or bottom wall of the cavity.
Inasmuch as microwave energy tends to establish standing wave patterns within the cavity space, there is a resultant disparity in energy field strengths from one spot in the oven to another and hence a disparity in evenness of cooking.
Moreover, prior designs of microwave ovens have not generally facilitated cooking of more than one type of food simultaneously in a single cavity, but rather have been largely limited to cooking either a single food item such as a roast or casserole, or a number of units of the same food item, such as a number of potatoes. It has not heretofore been considered practical to simultaneously cook two or more dissimilar food items in a microwave oven.
The microwave oven of the present invention is adapted to overcome many of the aforementioned limitations of prior art ovens. The design provides a more even energy distribution within the cavity and thereby provides for more even cooking. Additionally, the design provides a microwave oven that is especially suited to cooking more than one food item of dissimilar types simultaneously. These and other advantages of the new design become apparent as the specification proceeds.